Effect of novel ora-aid intraoral dressing on salivary healing markers in smokers with tooth extraction: A randomized controlled clinical study

Abstract

Background and objectives. Socket healing following tooth extraction is considered a big challenge among dentists. However, there is no previous research testing the effects of novel commercial ora-aid dressing on the levels of salivary markers of wounds healing, osteoprotegerin (OPG) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) with relation to the smoking status among patients undergone tooth extraction. Material and methods. The current study represents the first randomized, controlled, and clinical research conducted in Iraq from February to May 2022. Forty male outpatients (aged from 20-60 years) who visited the Surgery Clinic of the College of Dentistry, University of Babylon, Iraq, had tooth extraction. The patients were randomly allocated into four groups: smoker patients with ora-aid applied following extraction (N=11), non-smoker patients with ora-aid applied following extraction (N=9), smoker patients without ora-aid applied (gauze only; N=11), and non-smoker patients without ora-aid applied (gauze only; N=9). Levels of preoperative and postoperative (2 weeks after extraction) salivary HGF and OPG were measured. Results. The results indicated that the levels of postoperative HGF were significantly higher in patients with ora-aid dressing compared to those without. Levels of postoperative OPG were significantly lower compared to their preoperative levels in non-smokers without ora-aid dressing. Smoking had significantly negative impacts on the levels of preoperative HGF. Conclusions. The study concludes that commercial ora-aid attachable dressing can be safely applied on the fresh socket after tooth extraction and it can accelerate the healing of intraoral wounds by significantly elevating healing of salivary markers (HGF|) and maintaining the levels of other healing marker (OPG).